Page 67 of Biker's Babygirl

“Duke, get the phone.”

I startle out of my thoughts. I can’t believe I’m so out of it that I didn’t hear the phone ring. But then again, I’m running on so little sleep that the bigger surprise is that I’m functioning at all. It’s been four days. Four days without a trace of my babygirl, not a single sighting, or any word of her. I’m trying to cling to hope, but it’s getting harder with each passing hour.

Still, I force myself to reach for the phone and press the receiver to my ear. “Hello?”

“Is that you, Duke?”

My brow furrows as I try to recognize the desperate voice on the other end. “Yeah, it’s me. What’s going on? Where do you need us?”

“Duke, it’s Peggy! Listen, I just got a call at the diner.”

“It’s okay, Peggy.” I attempt to soothe her right away, which is as much of a habit as it is concern for someone I consider a friend.

“You don’t understand.”

Her words are coming so fast together that it’s harder than usual to make sense of them, but I’ve had a lot of experience with these types of calls, so I wait patiently.

“Someone named Ginny called me. She seemed to know you.”

Every muscle in my body goes taut. “Ginny?” The word comes out softer than a whisper. “Ginny!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Elvis’s head turn in my direction.

“Yes, and whoever she is, she sounded awfully upset.”

“You spoke to Ginny?” I repeat, gripping the receiver so hard I feel like I might break it in two.

“Yes, she said she wasyourGinny.”

My heart stirs in my chest. It’s not until that moment that I realize I’ve built an iron shell around it, trapping it inside as I wait to see what will happen with Ginny.

“She said to get you a message.”

“What did she say, Peggy?” Part of me wants to drop the phone and rush toLawsons, as though that would get me the information faster.

“She said she didn’t mean it.”

Didn’t mean it? Didn’t mean what?

“And she said to tell you Lucas has her, and they’re headed for the border. I couldn’t make any sense of it myself, but I thought maybe it meant something to you. Do you know what she means?”

“What else did she say, Peggy?”

“Oh. Nothing. That was the strange part. She was telling me something else, I don’t know what, and the phone just went dead. I looked it up, but when I called the number on the caller ID it just rings and rings. No one picks up.”

My stomach twists into knots so painful I can hardly stand it.

“Does it make any sense to you, Duke? Who’s Lucas?”

I drop the phone. I don’t mean to—I’m not trying to be rude and ignore Peggy, but at the moment it feels like I’m having an out-of-body experience. I walk away from the phone as it bungees toward the floor.

I’m only dimly aware of Elvis retrieving the receiver and raising it to his ear.

“Thanks for calling, Peggy. We’ll fill you in later.”

Suddenly remembering something, I turn toward him. “Get the number.”

He raises a quizzical brow.

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